Esteban Roel | Love Horror film reviews and news

The psychological thriller Tabula Rasa is set to place fractured memory and buried trauma at the centre of a tightly controlled mystery, anchored by a lead performance from Macarena Gómez. Directed by Juanfer Andrés and Esteban Roel, the film marks a return to feature filmmaking for the creative partnership behind Musarañas, the 2014 thriller that earned Gómez a Goya Award nomination and established the pair within Spanish genre cinema. Set during what should be a routine family gathering, Tabula Rasa follows Leo, whose life is thrown into disarray when her newborn nephew and the child’s nanny vanish without explanation. As the family searches for answers, the disappearance becomes increasingly difficult to separate from Leo’s own psychological history. Long-standing psychiatric trauma resurfaces, destabilising her sense of reality and casting doubt on every memory and assumption that follows. The film leans heavily on atmosphere and internal tension rather than overt spectacle, drawing comparisons to Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion. Those influences are reflected in the way Tabula Rasa frames domestic spaces as unreliable and oppressive, with familiar environments becoming sites of mounting suspicion and fear. Each attempt to uncover the truth surrounding the disappearance only deepens the uncertainty, as the film gradually dismantles the boundaries between perception and delusion. Gómez, widely recognised for her extensive work in Spanish horror and suspense, carries the film through its psychological descent. Her performance is positioned as the emotional anchor of the story, with the character of Leo navigating grief, guilt and paranoia while struggling to maintain control. The film reunites Gómez with Andrés and Roel for the first time since Musarañas, continuing a collaboration that has previously been closely associated with female-led psychological intensity. The supporting cast includes Carlos Bardem, Pedro Casablanc, Ramón Emilio Candelario and Amaia Salamanca, whose presence adds further complexity to the family dynamics at the heart of the story. The screenplay is credited to Juanfer Andrés and Sofía Cuenca, with the writing structured to slowly reveal information while withholding clear answers. We don't have any release details yet, but check out the trailer below for an early look at this exciting thriller that will no-doubt grace our screens at some point later in 2026. Tabula Rasa trailer Horror trailers

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